The Michigan DNR will conduct informational meetings this month regarding new deer antler point restriction (APR) proposals.

A group known as the Lower Peninsula Deer Management Initiative (LPDMI) has submitted two different APR proposals to be considered for implementation starting with the 2014 deer season. Antlerless deer regulations within the proposed areas would continue to be determined annually by the DNR.

One of those impacts southern Michigan. It calls for implementing a four-point APR for all of Hunting and Trapping Zone 3 in southern Michigan.

The APR would not apply to individuals hunting with an apprentice hunting license or mentored youth hunting license or youth hunters during a designated youth season. This proposal seeks to require that all other antlered deer harvested in the area have at least four antler points on one side.

The next southern Michigan meeting will be June 13 at Decatur Middle School cafeteria, 405 N. Phelps St., Decatur, MI 49045. Doors will open at 6:30 pm, the meeting will run from 7 to 8 p.m., and the building must be cleared by 8:30 p.m.

A separate proposal of the LPDMI calls for a minimum three-point APR for a portion of the northern Lower Peninsula. Antlered deer would be required to have at least three antler points on one side. Throughout Michigan, all hunters that harvest two antlered deer must ensure at least one has four or more antler points on one side, and this proposal would not change that requirement.

Surveys to measure support for these proposals will be mailed starting in August. Payment by the LPDMI will offset survey costs incurred by this proposal.

Under guidelines adopted by the Natural Resources Commission (NRC), mandatory regulations proposed by sponsoring organizations will only be recommended for implementation if DNR staff has no biological concerns regarding such regulations, and if a clear majority (at least 66 percent) of support among hunters in the proposed area is documented. Support will be determined by a DNR survey mailed to a sample of hunters who indicated on the 2012 DNR deer harvest survey that they hunted deer in the proposal area.

The process for review of APR proposals provides a uniform approach for addressing requests by organizations for adopting such regulations. The NRC retains full authority over decisions to implement APR and other harvest regulations regardless of the survey outcome, but the proposal review process provides valuable information to inform those decisions.